Fountain Pens

It is, to an extent, a normal and expected behavior for sheen inks: they tend to be more saturated (sometimes, a LOT more), so they'll usually have a much harder time flowing and they will crust up your nib; the more sheen, the more those happen. And sometimes it's so bad the manufacturer will load them up with ammonia to make it flow at all. That means feathering is a lot more likely to happen too.

The smear is also a product of the saturation, there is such a high concentration that the dye can't all be absorbed by the paper, and a lot of it will sit on top of the page, and from my own experience with other saturated inks, 20 years will not "dry" it (it is technically dry), and will even be able to imprint itself on another piece of paper with a bit of pressure. Blotter paper will absolutely help a lot, and it costs next to nothing, and you should definitely get yourself some.

My recommendation for a much better ink for similar looks (maybe a bit less sheen though) is Ostrich's sheen series Sea of Okinawa. I have used it a few pens, (Jinhao 88, Waterman Allure, Pilot Custom 74 and Waterman Exception), with no issues, including as a daily. It's the best behaved sheen I have tried so far: no real feathering issues (nothing worse than a typical fountain pen ink, though somehow less than a typical blue), flows well enough even if it's on the drier side, doesn't crust up on your nib, and hasn't stained anything so far in three or four years. It's perfectly usable without having to tune the nib, unless your pen is already pretty dry to begin with. Although as with most sheen inks, you will need the right paper to show its full potential, and it's also a bit of a nib creeper, but if your nib is highly polished, it doesn't happen. Usual prices for an 18mL bottle is around 3-4€ here, and they also have them in 30mL, but at 6-7€, it isn't worth it (the cost of a glass vs plastic bottle).

They also have a more saturated one called Aegean sea, but I have not tried it. And I am not eager to change that after my experience with their Glen of the sea, which is incredibly saturated (looks like the holographic safety ink on various currencies) and sheens on anything including toilet paper (that is only a slight exaggeration), but behaves very poorly: it crusts very quickly and even under the nib, has super dry flow, it imprints on facing pages, it looks like black ink but smears a pinkish purple. I tried to dilute it to 60% with DI water, I tried dish soap, nothing makes it flow well. Despite all that, I still like this ink though, just because of that crazy sheen... well and the intriguing fact that I can't get the purple component to show up on purpose, it's always been accidental. Either way, the Sea of Okinawa behaves so well that I never felt it was warranted to even bother looking for anything else in that shade.

There are also non sheen inks that can sheen on the right paper, like Waterman's Bleu sérénité or J. Herbin's Bleu des profondeurs, but both of these require a rather wet nib and good paper. If you like their base colors, they can be worth a try, though don't expect a crazy sheen, they are very subtle in that respect.

Nitrogen is the most ill-behaved ink I've ever used. I tossed it out when the bottle was still 75% full since I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

• The Smearing: Sweet creeping zombie Jesus does it smear! I haven't used it in three years, and it still hasn't completely dried in any of the notebooks I used it in.
• Gets on Everything: I swear to Cthulhu, you get a free Nitrogen Gnome when you purchase this ink. The Gnome's only job is to make every surface in your home turn blue when you add water to it. Months after I got rid of it, I was still finding places inside of drawers that hardly ever get opened, that when wiped out with water, turned the paper towel blue. It was unreal, how much I kept discovering, and in the weirdest places, too!

I've noticed this problem got far worse the older my bottle got. It doesn't seal super well, so I wondered if it could be avoided degrading in a better bottle.

My favorite adjacent ink that I've used is diamine enchanted ocean, but that has particles. It has a similar red sheen on dark blue that can look beautiful when the pen sits in the sweet spot of flow. The least susceptible to dry out inks I've used have been from pennonia, but I also have not tried very many brands tbf. Nothing I've seen sheens as intensely as nitrogen. If I got another bottle I'd definitely consider plumbers tape at the least unless I was going to use it every refill.